GM to up capacity

Ahmedabad, Nov. 17 (PTI): US car maker General Motors today said it will expand capacity at its Halol plant in Gujarat to 1.10 lakh units as the company gears up to launch the eight-seater MPV Enjoy.

The plant has an installed capacity of 85,000 units.

“Soon, we will have 1.10 lakh unit commissioned capacity annually at Halol because Enjoy is proposed to be rolled out from this plant in the next couple of months,” company’s vice-president (corporate communication) P. Balendran said.

The company has invested over $1 billion in India till date, a company statement said.

“Halol’s capacity was small. So, it is being expanded. With the inauguration of a press shop at Halol, it is now an integrated manufacturing plant,” Balendran said.

The company has phased out a few models such as Chevrolet Optra and Aveo.

“After the launch of Chevrolet Sail U-VA, a hatchback, we plan to roll out a sedan model of Sail by next month,” he said.

The new sedan will be the company’s sixth launch this year.

GM sold nearly 78,100 units till October this year compared with 1,11,510 units the whole of last year.

“With new models, we expect to sell 4,000 units per month from next year, although the market is sluggish in the wake of high interest rates,” Balendran said.